7-year-old girl wanders Riverside neighborhood shoeless, hungry

RIVERSIDE, Ohio (WDTN) – A Riverside woman found a 7-year-old knocking on her doorstep, hungry and without any shoes.

Only 2 NEWS was there when a Riverside officer placed a little girl onto his hips to carry her to his cruiser.

A resident living near Spinning Hills Middle School told me the child showed up at her home around 11:30 Thursday morning.

“She said she’d been out walking the neighborhood all morning and she didn’t have any shoes on and she said she was hungrey and she uh– her foster mom asked her to leave so she didn’t know where else to go,” said the resident, her daughter adding that “she came over” and they later played together.
2 NEWS’ Beairshelle Edmé spoke with Riverside police; officials confirmed the girl is a a foster child and that her foster home has been investigated in the past.

The resident’s daughters were out playing on their bikes when this all unfolded.

She told 2 NEWS that as mom, she’s concerned for the young girl’s safety.

“Makes me worry, makes you wonder about other children in the neighborhood. I mean my daughter is four and she just thought she had a new friend to play with so it just kind of makes you wonder what’s going on in the neighborhood,” said the mother of two.

The concerned mom also added that, “The officer seemed to know her fairly well. He said she’s done this before.”

Officials told 2 NEWS’ reporter that Montgomery County Child Protective Services (CPS) has been contacted for a previous case at this same home.

Wednesday, the resident said when the girl appeared at her door, she also contacted the agency.

“We called Child Services and waited about half and hour but they didn’t call back yet so we called the police.”

2 NEWS also spoke with Montgomery County CPS, an official told 2 NEWS this is not one of their foster homes and it is run through a Southwest Ohio agency.